RIM has been hit with another serious bit of bad news as it has lost a patent dispute with Nokia. The patent suit loss could force RIM to stop shipping BlackBerry smartphones if it can't reach a licensing agreement.

Nokia announced an arbitrator in the matter has ruled, "RIM was in breach of contract and is not entitled to manufacture or sell WLAN products without first agreeing royalties with Nokia."

Nokia has announced that it has filed similar cases in the U.S., Britain, and Canada to enforce arbitrator's ruling. The patents at the heart of this dispute have to do with WLAN technologies typically marketed under the Wi-Fi brand.

"This could have a significant financial impact to RIM, as all BlackBerry devices support WLAN," IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo said.

Analysts expect RIM to come to a licensing agreement with Nokia; otherwise RIM would be unable to ship its new BlackBerry devices using BlackBerry 10 software early next year.